Tertiary Phase

Gretsch Electromatic guitars vs proline models

“That Great Gretsch Sound” the famed slogan of Gretsch guitars! Gretsch was a company founded by Friedrich Gretsch, a German Immigrant whom opened up a shop in Brooklyn, New York in 1883. The company made famous for its Guitar and Drum designs and made its stamp in music history with the 50’s and 60’s Rock ‘n Roll and Rockabilly boom. Some famous artists include Georgie Harrison, Bo Diddley, Chet Atkins and Charlie Watts the list continues well into the modern day music era with artists such as Bono and Rockabilly revival legend Brian Setzer.

I started looking into Gretsch guitars back in 2013, the proline models have always caught my fancy but they come with hefty price tag. For me the infamous sound of its pickup’s and the rock ‘n Roll bling look caught my fancy!

I started looking into the Electromatic series as a more affordable option to purchasing a Gretsch guitar.

I was able to get my hands on G5445T Double Jet and a G5422TDC Trans Red Hollowbody, I originally wanted the snow white crest colour, but that specific colour is more expensive possibly due to the fact that it resembles the iconic white falcon. Regardless I was quite impressed with the character of the sound that they produced along with the affordable price!

With Gretsch guitars a big roleplayer in the sound comes from their pickups. The two above mentioned Electromatic models and the whole Electromatic G544x line come standard with Black-top Filtertron pickups, which differ to the High sensitive Filtertrons that come with the pro-line Gretsch’s. The Black-tops filtertrons stem from ppickup designs in an era in Gretsch’s history between 1970 and 1981, where the company was owned by Baldwin a music industry giant at the time. These pickups had higher output than their predecessors and they have revamped on the original pickup designs from that era for the current Electromatic series. Some of the proline models such as the G6136T White Falcon contain High Sensitive Filtertron pickups which use alnico magnets which are slightly more expensive than the ceramic magnets used in the blacktop filtertrons and they create a more authentic vintage sound.

I have placed the features of the Electromatic G5445T Double Jet vs the high range 6128 Duo Jet, so you can see the difference in specs and wood etc, similar construction and look, but there are characteristic differences.

I have been playing on electromatics for the past two years, I used them for solo instrumentals, in a jazz trio and a Rock/folk project and I can say have had no complaints the only reason I would swap them out would be potentially for a higher range model. Not only that but they are starting to develop a cult following in their own right, owning one of these may prove to have a major re-sell value in the future ;)

I hope this blog has provided you with some information into the comparison of the Electormatic Gretsch range against some of the iconic pro-line models. I will leave you with a couple of reviews of each so you can hear and see the sounds! And a link to a look inside the Gretsch custom shop on the official page J